Bidirectional switch

ABSTRACT

A bidirectional switch includes a plurality of unit cells  11  including a first ohmic electrode  15 , a first gate electrode  17 , a second gate electrode  18 , and a second ohmic electrode  16 . The first gate electrodes  15  are electrically connected via a first interconnection  31  to a first gate electrode pad  43 . The second gate electrodes  18  are electrically connected via a second interconnection  32  to a second gate electrode pad  44 . A unit cell  11  including a first gate electrode  17  having the shortest interconnect distance from the first gate electrode pad  43  includes a second gate electrode  18  having the shortest interconnect distance from the second gate electrode pad  44.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is the U.S. National Phase under 35 U.S.C. §371 ofInternational Application No. PCT/JP2009/003255, filed on Jul. 10, 2009,which in turn claims the benefit of Japanese Application No.2008-270917, filed on Oct. 21, 2008, the disclosures of whichApplications are incorporated by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to bidirectional switches, and moreparticularly, to bidirectional switches with a double gate structurewhich include a wide band gap semiconductor.

BACKGROUND ART

In recent years, nitride-based semiconductors, typified by galliumnitride (GaN), and wide band gap semiconductors, such as silicon carbide(SiC), have been actively studied and developed as materials forsemiconductor devices. Wide band gap semiconductors have a breakdownfield greater than that of silicon (Si) semiconductors by an order ofmagnitude. When conventional Si semiconductors are used to obtain apower semiconductor device having a high breakdown voltage, the powersemiconductor device needs to have a long drift layer in which electronstravel. However, when nitride-based semiconductors or SiC is used, anequal breakdown voltage can be achieved by a drift layer having a lengthwhich is about 1/10 compared to when Si semiconductors are used. When acurrent is passed through the semiconductor device, the drift layerbecomes a resistor layer. Therefore, the on-resistance of thesemiconductor device can be reduced by using a wide band gapsemiconductor which has a greater breakdown field and therefore canprovide a shorter drift layer. The on-resistance of a semiconductordevice having a predetermined breakdown voltage is inverselyproportional to the third power of the breakdown field if thesemiconductor material has the same mobility and permeability.

Nitride semiconductors such as GaN and the like can be used togetherwith aluminum nitride (AlN), indium nitride (InN) or the like to producevarious compounds. Therefore, nitride semiconductors can be used toproduce a heterojunction as with conventional arsenide-basedsemiconductor materials such as gallium arsenide (GaAs) and the like. Inparticular, in the heterojunction of nitride semiconductors, a highconcentration of carriers are generated at the interface by spontaneouspolarization or piezoelectric polarization even in the absence of dopingwith an impurity. As a result, nitride semiconductors can be used toachieve high power devices which are lateral devices in which a currentis caused to flow in a direction parallel to the substrate, and whichhave a low on-resistance and which can flow a large current.

Moreover, by introducing into lateral devices a double gate structure inwhich a first gate electrode and a second gate electrode are providedbetween a first ohmic electrode and a second ohmic electrode, it ispossible to achieve bidirectional switches in which a current flowsbidirectionally and a high breakdown voltage is bidirectionallyprovided.

Bidirectional switches for use in matrix converters, drive circuits forplasma display panels (PDPs), and the like have been generally developedusing a reverse blocking insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT).However, when the reverse blocking IGBT is applied to bidirectionalswitches, two reverse blocking IGBTs needs to be arranged in anantiparallel fashion. Because IGBTs intrinsically have a turn-on voltageacross the PN junction, the on-resistance is large in a region in whicha small current flows, resulting in a large power loss during switching.

In bidirectional switches having a double gate structure, as shown inFIG. 11( a), when a bias voltage is simultaneously applied to a firstgate electrode G1 and a second gate electrode G2, a current can becaused to flow bidirectionally between a first ohmic electrode S1 and asecond ohmic electrode S2 without a rising voltage. As shown in FIG. 11(b), when a bias voltage is applied to only one of the two gateelectrodes, rectification is performed in which a current flows only inone direction. Therefore, a bidirectional switch which has a low powerloss during switching can be achieved using a single chip (see, forexample, Non-Patent Document 1).

In bidirectional switches having a double gate structure, a large gatewidth is required for a large current. As a technique of increasing thegate width, a chip layout has been studied in which a plurality of unitcells in which a first gate electrode and a second gate electrode areprovided between a first ohmic electrode and a second ohmic electrodeare arranged in parallel (see, for example, Patent Document 1). As aresult, a limited area can be efficiently used to easily increase thegate width.

CITATION LIST Patent Document

-   PATENT DOCUMENT 1: Japanese National Phase PCT Laid-Open Publication    No. 2007-526633

Non-Patent Document

-   NON-PATENT DOCUMENT 1: T. Morita, et al., “650V 3.1 mΩcm2 GaN-based    Monolithic Bidirectional Switch Using Normally-off Gate Injection    Transistor,” International Electron Devices Meeting, 2007, p. 865

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Technical Problem

However, it has been clarified that the layout of the aforementionedconventional bidirectional switch has the following problem.

In the conventional bidirectional switch, there is a connection via aninterconnection between the first ohmic electrodes, between the secondohmic electrodes, between the first gate electrodes, and between thesecond gate electrodes. The first ohmic electrodes, the second ohmicelectrodes, the first gate electrodes, and the second gate electrodesare also connected via the interconnections to pads. In this case, afirst gate electrode pad connected to the first gate electrodes and asecond gate electrode pad connected to the second gate electrodes arelocated at diagonally opposite positions around the bidirectionalswitch. As a result, the four pads can be efficiently arranged.

In such an arrangement, however, in each unit cell, an interconnectdistance between the first gate electrode and the first gate electrodepad and an interconnect distance between the second gate electrode andthe second gate electrode pad are significantly different from eachother, which is a problem. High power bidirectional switches generallyhave a chip area of several millimeters square. The distance between theinterconnect distance between the first gate electrode and the firstgate electrode pad and the interconnect distance between the second gateelectrode and the second gate electrode pad is a maximum of about 3 mm.As the difference in the interconnect distance increases, the differencein the gate resistance also increases.

The first gate electrodes, the second gate electrodes, and theinterconnections connected thereto are generally formed in the same stepusing the lift-off method. The lift-off method has difficulty in forminga thick metal film. Therefore, the first gate electrodes, the secondgate electrodes, and the interconnections connected thereto eachtypically have a thickness of about 0.5 μm. If the metal film has aspecific resistance of about 2×10⁻⁶ Ω·cm and the interconnection has awidth of about 50 μm, then when the difference in the interconnectdistance is 3 mm, the difference in the gate resistance is 2.4Ω.

When a current is caused to flow bidirectionally between the first andsecond ohmic electrodes of the bidirectional switch, it is necessary toapply a bias voltage to both of the first and second gate electrodes sothat the first and second gates are simultaneously turned on. In a unitcell having a large difference in the gate resistance, even if a biasvoltage is simultaneously applied to the first and second gate electrodepads, the gate having a smaller gate resistance is turned on earlier,and the gate having a greater gate resistance is turned on later. Inother words, there is a delay between a time required to turn on thefirst gate electrode and a time required to turn on the second gateelectrode. When there is a delay in turning on, a current flowsunidirectionally between the first and second ohmic electrodes in theunit cell during the delay time, which is rectification. Duringrectification, there is a voltage offset, resulting in a large switchingloss. Moreover, when the first and second ohmic electrodes aredisconnected, a current flows during the delay time, resulting in alarge switching loss. Thus, when there is a unit cell having a largeswitching loss, the switching loss of the bidirectional switch which isthe sum of those of the unit cells is also deteriorated. This problembecomes more significant as the switching frequency is increased.According to an estimation, the problem starts to manifest when theswitching frequency exceeds 10 KHz.

It is an object of the present disclosure to solve the aforementionedproblem to achieve a bidirectional switch in which an interconnectresistance between a first gate electrode and a second gate electrodeincluded in each unit cell is small, whereby a switching loss isreduced.

Solution to the Problem

To achieve the object, the present disclosure provides a bidirectionalswitch in which a first gate electrode pad and a second gate electrodepad are arranged so that an interconnect resistance of a first gateelectrode is substantially equal to an interconnect resistance of asecond gate electrode.

Specifically, an illustrative bidirectional switch includes a pluralityof unit cells including a semiconductor layer formed on a substrate, anda first ohmic electrode, a first gate electrode, a second gateelectrode, and a second ohmic electrode successively formed on thesemiconductor layer and spaced from each other, a first interconnectionformed on the semiconductor layer, electrically connecting the firstgate electrodes, and extending in a direction intersecting the firstgate electrodes, a second interconnection formed on a side opposite tothe first interconnection with the unit cells being interposed betweenthe first and second interconnections, connecting the second gateelectrodes, and extending in a direction intersecting the second gateelectrodes, a first gate electrode pad electrically connected to thefirst interconnection, and a second gate electrode pad electricallyconnected to the second interconnection. Of the plurality of unit cells,one unit cell including a first gate electrode having a shortestinterconnect distance from the first gate electrode pad, includes asecond gate electrode having a shortest interconnect distance from thesecond gate electrode pad.

In the illustrative bidirectional switch, the unit cell including thefirst gate electrode having the shortest interconnect distance from thefirst gate electrode pad, includes the second gate electrode having theshortest interconnect distance from the second gate electrode pad.Therefore, there is not a unit cell which has a large difference betweenan interconnect distance between the first gate electrode and the firstgate electrode pad and an interconnect distance between the second gateelectrode and the second gate electrode pad. Therefore, in each unitcell, the interconnect resistance of the first gate electrode issubstantially equal to the interconnect resistance of the second gateelectrode, whereby a delay time caused by the difference in theinterconnect resistance is not likely to occur. As a result, abidirectional switch having a small switching loss can be achieved.

In the illustrative bidirectional switch, the first gate electrode padmay be formed at one end portion of the first interconnection, and thesecond gate electrode pad may be formed at one end portion of the secondinterconnection on the same side on which the first gate electrode padis formed.

In this case, for an n-th unit cell and an (n+1)-th unit cell countedfrom a side on which the first gate electrode pad is formed,interconnect distances of the first gate electrodes and the second gateelectrodes may have a relationship represented by:|(L _(G1)(n+1)−L _(G1)(n))−(L _(G2)(n+1)−L _(G2)(n))|=2L _(G1G2)where n is a natural number, L_(G1)(n) is an interconnect distancebetween the first gate electrode included in the n-th unit cell and thefirst gate electrode pad, L_(G1)(n+1) is an interconnect distancebetween the first gate electrode included in the (n+1)-th unit cell andthe first gate electrode pad, L_(G2)(n) is an interconnect distancebetween the second gate electrode included in the n-th unit cell and thesecond gate electrode pad, L_(G2)(n+1) is an interconnect distancebetween the second gate electrode included in the (n+1)-th unit cell andthe second gate electrode pad, and L_(G1G2) is an interval between thefirst and second gate electrodes.

In the illustrative bidirectional switch, in each of the plurality ofunit cells, an interconnect distance between the first gate electrodeand the first gate electrode pad may be equal to an interconnectdistance between the second gate electrode and the second gate electrodepad.

In the illustrative bidirectional switch, the first and second gateelectrode pads may be symmetrical about a center line of thesemiconductor substrate extending in a direction in which the first andsecond interconnections extend.

In the illustrative bidirectional switch, the first and second gateelectrode pads may be symmetrical about a center point of thesemiconductor substrate.

In the illustrative bidirectional switch, the first and second gateelectrode pads may be unitary with the first and secondinterconnections, respectively.

The illustrative bidirectional switch may further include a first ohmicelectrode pad electrically connected to the first ohmic electrode, and asecond ohmic electrode pad electrically connected to the second ohmicelectrode. The semiconductor layer may have an active region and ahigh-resistance region surrounding the active region. At least a portionof the first and second ohmic electrode pads may be formed on the activeregion.

In this case, at least a portion of the first and second gate electrodepads may be formed on the active region.

The illustrative bidirectional switch may further include a first ohmicelectrode pad electrically connected to the first ohmic electrode, and asecond ohmic electrode pad electrically connected to the second ohmicelectrode. The second ohmic electrode pad may be formed on thesemiconductor layer. The first ohmic electrode pad may be formed on asurface of the semiconductor substrate opposite to a surface of thesemiconductor substrate on which the semiconductor layer is formed.

In the illustrative bidirectional switch, the semiconductor layer mayinclude a first nitride semiconductor layer and a second nitridesemiconductor layer having a larger band gap than that of the firstnitride semiconductor layer, the first and second nitride semiconductorlayers being successively formed, and the first nitride semiconductorlayer being closer to the substrate than the second nitridesemiconductor layer is.

Advantages of the Invention

According to the present disclosure, a bidirectional switch can beachieved in which a difference in interconnect resistance between afirst gate electrode and a second gate electrode included in each unitcell is small, whereby a switching loss is reduced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1( a) and 1(b) show a bidirectional switch according to a firstembodiment. FIG. 1( a) shows a plan view of a structure of thebidirectional switch, and FIG. 1( b) shows a cross-sectional view of thestructure, taken along line Ib-Ib of FIG. 1( a).

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing a connection portionbetween a first gate electrode pad and a first interconnection in thebidirectional switch of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a plan view for describing a relationship between aninterconnect distance of a first gate electrode and an interconnectdistance of a second gate electrode in the bidirectional switch of thefirst embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a variation of the bidirectional switch ofthe first embodiment.

FIGS. 5( a) and 5(b) show a variation of the bidirectional switch of thefirst embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5( a) is a plan view,and FIG. 5( b) is a cross-sectional view taken along line Vb-Vb of FIG.5( a).

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a variation of the bidirectional switch ofthe first embodiment.

FIGS. 7( a) and 7(b) show a variation of the bidirectional switch of thefirst embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7( a) is a plan view,and FIG. 7( b) is a cross-sectional view taken along line VIIb-VIIb ofFIG. 7( a).

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing a bidirectional switch according to asecond embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing a variation of the bidirectional switch ofthe second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a plan view showing a variation of the bidirectional switchof the second embodiment.

FIGS. 11( a) and 11(b) are graphs showing current-voltagecharacteristics of a bidirectional switch.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS First Embodiment

FIGS. 1( a) and 1(b) show a bidirectional switch according to a firstembodiment. FIG. 1( a) shows a plan view of a structure of thebidirectional switch. FIG. 1( b) shows a cross-sectional view of thestructure, taken along line Ib-Ib of FIG. 1( a).

As shown in FIG. 1, the bidirectional switch of this embodiment has adouble gate structure including first ohmic electrodes 15, second ohmicelectrodes 16, first gate electrodes 17, and second gate electrodes 18,which are formed on a nitride semiconductor. In order to obtain a largegate width, a plurality of unit cells 11 each including a first ohmicelectrode 15, a second ohmic electrode 16, a first gate electrode 17,and a second gate electrode 18 are connected in parallel.

A semiconductor layer 22 made of a nitride semiconductor is formed on asubstrate 21, such as a silicon substrate or the like. The semiconductorlayer 22 includes a buffer layer 23, a channel layer 24 made of i-GaN,and a barrier layer 25 made of i-AlGaN, which are successively formed,where the buffer layer 23 is the closest to the substrate 21. Thecompositions of the channel layer 24 and the barrier layer 25 may bearbitrarily changed if a channel made of two-dimensional electron gas isformed in the vicinity of an interface between the channel layer 24 andthe barrier layer 25.

The semiconductor layer 22 has an active region 22A and ahigh-resistance region 22B surrounding the active region 22A. Thehigh-resistance region 22B is caused to have a high resistance by ionimplantation or the like. The finger-like first ohmic electrodes 15 andthe finger-like second ohmic electrodes 16 are alternately arranged andspaced from each other on the active region 22A. A first gate electrode17 and a second gate electrode 18, which are spaced from each other, areformed between a first ohmic electrode 15 and a second ohmic electrode16.

A first ohmic electrode 15, a second ohmic electrode 16, a first gateelectrode 17, and a second gate electrode 18 constitute a unit cell 11.Adjacent ones of the unit cells 11 share a first ohmic electrode 15 or asecond ohmic electrode 16. In other words, the unit cells 11 arearranged and oriented in alternately reversed directions.

The first gate electrodes 17 and the second gate electrodes 18 areconnected to a first interconnection 31 and a second interconnection 32,respectively, which are formed on the high-resistance region 22B. Thefirst interconnection 31, which extends in a direction intersecting thefirst gate electrodes 17, electrically connects the first gateelectrodes 17. The second interconnection 32, which extends in adirection intersecting the second gate electrodes 18, electricallyconnects the second gate electrodes 18. The first and secondinterconnections 31 and 32 are formed on opposite sides with the unitcells 11 are interposed therebetween.

The first and second gate electrodes 17 and 18, and the first and secondinterconnections 31 and 32 are made of, for example, a multilayer filmincluding nickel (Ni) having a thickness of 100 nm and gold (Au) havinga thickness of 400 nm. The first and second gate electrodes 17 and 18,and the first and second interconnections 31 and 32 can besimultaneously formed using the lift-off method.

An insulating film 27 is formed on the semiconductor layer 22, coveringthe first and second ohmic electrodes 15 and 16, and the first andsecond gate electrodes 17 and 18. A first ohmic electrode pad 41, asecond ohmic electrode pad 42, a first gate electrode pad 43, and asecond gate electrode pad 44 are formed on the insulating film 27. Thefirst and second ohmic electrode pads 41 and 42, the first and secondgate electrode pads 43 and 44 are formed on the high-resistance region22B. The first and second ohmic electrode pads 41 and 42 are formed inopposite regions with the active region 22A being interposedtherebetween, and the first and second gate electrode pads 43 and 44 areformed in opposite regions with the active region 22A being interposedtherebetween. In other words, the first and second gate electrode pads43 and 44 are formed at positions symmetrical about a center line 20 ofthe substrate 21 extending in a direction intersecting a direction inwhich the electrodes extends.

The first ohmic electrode pad 41 is connected to a third interconnection36 formed on the insulating film 27. The third interconnection 36 isconnected to the first ohmic electrodes 15 at openings formed in theinsulating film 27. The second ohmic electrode pad 42 is connected to afourth interconnection 38 formed on the insulating film 27. The fourthinterconnection 38 is connected to the second ohmic electrodes 16 atopenings formed in the insulating film 27.

The first and second ohmic electrode pads 41 and 42, and the third andsecond interconnections 36 and 38 may be made of, for example, amultilayer film including titanium (Ti) having a thickness of 100 nm andgold (Au) having a thickness of 5000 nm, and may be simultaneouslyformed by a plating process or the like.

The first gate electrode pad 43 is connected to the firstinterconnection 31 via a connection portion 33 which is formed in anopening which exposes the first interconnection 31. The second gateelectrode pad 44 is connected to the second interconnection 32 via aconnection portion 34 which is formed in an opening which exposes thesecond interconnection 32.

Attention now is directed to the first gate electrode pad 43, forexample. The first gate electrode pad 43 and the first interconnection31 are arranged as shown in FIG. 2. The first gate electrode pad 43typically has the same material, thickness, and the like as those of thefirst and second ohmic electrode pads 41 and 42. Therefore, the firstgate electrode pad 43 has a much smaller resistance than that of thefirst interconnection 31, and therefore, may be ignored in terms of theoccurrence of the delay time. Therefore, the starting point of theinterconnect distance of each first gate electrode 17 is an edge portion31 a at which the connection portion 33 contacts the firstinterconnection 31 as shown in FIG. 2. Similarly, the starting point ofthe interconnect distance of each second gate electrode 18 is an edgeportion at which the connection portion 34 contacts the secondinterconnection 32.

In the bidirectional switch of this embodiment, the first gate electrodepad 43 is formed at one end portion of the first interconnection 31. Thesecond gate electrode pad 44 is formed at one end portion of the secondinterconnection 32 that is located on the same side on which the firstgate electrode pad 43 is formed. Therefore, a second gate electrode 18which is included in a unit cell 11 which includes a first gateelectrode 17 having the shortest interconnect distance to the first gateelectrode pad 43 has the shortest interconnect distance to the secondgate electrode pad 44.

In conventional bidirectional switches, the first and second gateelectrode pads are arranged at diagonally opposite positions so as toreduce the area occupied by the pads. Therefore, the second gateelectrode pad is formed at one end portion of the second interconnectionthat is opposite to the first gate electrode pad. Therefore, a secondgate electrode included in a unit cell which includes a first gateelectrode having the shortest interconnect distance to the first gateelectrode pad, has the longest interconnect distance to the second gateelectrode pad. A first gate electrode included in a unit cell whichincludes a second gate electrode having the shortest interconnectdistance to the second gate electrode pad, has the longest interconnectdistance to the first gate electrode pad. Therefore, there is a largedifference between the interconnect resistance of the first gateelectrode and the interconnect resistance of the second gate electrode,and therefore, there is a unit cell which has a large difference betweena time required to turn on the first gate electrode and a time requiredto turn on the second gate electrode, i.e., a long delay time.

On the other hand, in the bidirectional switch of the first embodiment,in all unit cells, the difference between the interconnect distance fromthe first gate electrode 17 to the first gate electrode pad 43 and theinterconnect distance from the second gate electrode 18 to the secondgate electrode pad 44 can be reduced. Therefore, in each unit cell, thedifference between the interconnect resistance of the first gateelectrode and the interconnect resistance of the second gate electrode18 can be reduced, and therefore, the difference between the timerequired to turn on the first gate electrode and the time required toturn on the second gate electrode, i.e., the delay time can be reduced.As a result, it is possible to achieve a bidirectional switch which doenot have a significant switching loss even when the switching frequencyexceeds 10 KHz.

As shown in FIG. 3, in the first unit cell 11(1) including a first gateelectrode 17 having the shortest interconnect distance from the firstgate electrode pad 43, if an interconnect distance between the firstgate electrode 17 and the first gate electrode pad 43 is represented byL_(G1)(1), an interconnect distance L_(G2)(1) between the second gateelectrode 18 and the second gate electrode pad 44 can be represented by:L _(G2)(1)=L _(G1)(1)+L ₁ −L _(G1G2)  (1)where L₁ is a positional offset between the edge portion at which theconnection portion 33 of the first gate electrode pad 43 contacts thefirst interconnection 31 and the edge portion at which the connectionportion 34 of the second gate electrode pad 44 contacts the secondinterconnection 32, i.e., an offset between the starting point of theinterconnect distance of the first gate electrode 17 and the startingpoint of the interconnect distance of the second gate electrode 18, andL_(G1G2) is an interval between the first and second gate electrodes 17and 18.

If the first and second gate electrode pads 43 and 44 are arranged to besymmetrical about the center line 20 of the substrate 21, the offset L₁between the starting point of the interconnect distance of the firstgate electrode 17 and the starting point of the interconnect distance ofthe second gate electrode 18 can be caused to be substantially zero.Therefore, the difference between the interconnect distance of the firstgate electrode 17 and the interconnect distance of the second gateelectrode 18 in the first unit cell 11(1) can be caused to besubstantially equal to the interval L_(G1G2) between the first andsecond gate electrodes 17 and 18.

The unit cells 11 are arranged and oriented in alternately reverseddirections. Therefore, in the second unit cell, the sign of L_(G1G2) inexpression (1) is reversed. However, also in this case, the differencebetween the interconnect distance of the first gate electrode 17 and theinterconnect distance of the second gate electrode 18 in the second unitcell is substantially equal to the interval L_(G1G2) between the firstand second gate electrodes 17 and 18. Moreover, when the offset L₁between the starting point of the interconnect distance of the firstgate electrode 17 and the starting point of the interconnect distance ofthe second gate electrode 18 is exactly zero, the difference between theinterconnect distance of the first gate electrode 17 and theinterconnect distance of the second gate electrode 18 in the first unitcell 11(1) is equal to the interval L_(G1G2) between the first andsecond gate electrodes 17 and 18 in any case.

The interval L_(G1G2) between the first and second gate electrodes 17and 18 is about 10 μm. In the case of such a difference, the delay timedue to the difference in gate resistance between the first and secondgate electrodes 17 and 18 is considerably small. As a result, aswitching loss in the bidirectional switch due to the delay time can bereduced.

Attention now is directed to an n-th unit cell 11(n) and an (n+1)-thunit cell 11(n+1). In this case, the following relationship isestablished:|(L _(G1)(n+1)−L _(G1)(n))−(L _(G2)(n+1)−L _(G2)(n))|=2L _(G1G2)  (2)

In conventional bidirectional switches in which the second gateelectrode pad is formed on a side of the second interconnection oppositeto the first gate electrode pad, such a relationship is not established.

As the positional offset between the edge portion at which the firstgate electrode pad 43 contacts the first interconnection 31 and the edgeportion at which the second gate electrode pad 44 contacts the secondinterconnection 32 decreases, variations in the interconnect distance ofthe first gate electrode 17 and the interconnect distance of the secondgate electrode 18 among the unit cells 11 can be reduced to a smallerdegree. However, a problem does not arise even when the positionaloffset is about 20 μm or more, although such a value varies depending onthe interconnect thickness or width, the specific resistance of theinterconnect material, the interval between the first and second gateelectrodes, or the like.

FIG. 1 shows an example in which the first and second gate electrodepads 43 and 44 are formed on the insulating film 27. Alternatively, asshown in FIG. 4, the first and second gate electrode pads 43 and 44 canbe formed directly on the high-resistance region 22B. In this case, thefirst gate electrode pad 43 is formed as a conductive film 46 in whichthe first gate electrode pad 43 is unitary with the firstinterconnection 31, and the second gate electrode pad 44 is formed as aconductive film 47 in which the second gate electrode pad 44 is unitarywith the second interconnection 32. Specifically, the first gateelectrode pad 43 is a portion having a broader width of the conductivefilm 46, and the first interconnection 31 is a portion having a narrowerwidth of the conductive film 46. Similarly, the second gate electrodepad 44 is a portion having a broader width of the conductive film 47,and the second interconnection 32 is a portion having a narrower widthof the conductive film 47. Note that, in FIG. 4, the insulating film 27,the first and second ohmic electrode pads 41 and 42, and the third andfourth interconnections 36 and 38 are not shown.

The first and second gate electrode pads 43 and 44, and the first andsecond interconnections 31 and 32 have the same material and thickness.However, the first and second gate electrode pads 43 and 44 have a muchlarger width than that of the first and second interconnections 31 and32. Therefore, the first and second gate electrode pads 43 and 44 have anegligibly small resistance compared to that of the first and secondinterconnections 31 and 32. Therefore, the starting point of theinterconnect distance of each first gate electrode 17 is a boundaryportion 46 a between the first gate electrode pad 43 and the firstinterconnection 31 at which the width of the conductive film 46 isnarrowed. The starting point of the interconnect distance of each secondgate electrode 18 is a boundary portion 47 a between the second gateelectrode pad 44 and the second interconnection 32 at which the width ofthe conductive film 47 is narrowed.

Note that a metal film for bonding may be further provided on a portionof the conductive film 46 which is to be the first gate electrode pad 43and a portion of the conductive film 47 which is to be the second gateelectrode pad 44. In this case, the first and second gate electrode pads43 and 44 have a still smaller resistance.

FIGS. 1 and 4 show an example in which the first and second ohmicelectrode pads 41 and 42 are formed on the high-resistance region 22B.Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 5, at least a portion of the first andsecond ohmic electrode pads 41 and 42 may be formed on the active region22A. Such a so-called pad-on-chip structure can reduce the area occupiedby the bidirectional switch.

In this case, the first ohmic electrode 15 and the first ohmic electrodepad 41 may be directly connected via a connection portion 37, and thesecond ohmic electrode 16 and the second ohmic electrode pad 42 may bedirectly connected via a connection portion 39. In this case, theconnection portion 37 between the first ohmic electrode 15 and the firstohmic electrode pad 41 and the connection portion 39 between the secondohmic electrode 16 and the second ohmic electrode pad 42 may have alength which is approximately smaller than or equal to the half of thelength of the first ohmic electrode 15 and the second ohmic electrode16, respectively.

Moreover, as shown in FIG. 6, at least a portion of the first and secondgate electrode pads 43 and 44 may be formed on the active region 22A.FIG. 6 shows an example in which no less than the half of the area ofeach of the first and second gate electrode pads 43 and 44 is formed onthe active region 22A.

Moreover, as shown in FIG. 7, the first ohmic electrode pad 41 may be aback surface electrode 51 which is formed on a back surface of thesubstrate 21. In this case, the back surface electrode 51 and the firstohmic electrodes 15 may be connected via metal 52 provided in via holespenetrating the semiconductor layer 22 and the substrate 21. Such astructure does not require the wiring of the first ohmic electrodes 15,and therefore, can simplify the assembly process.

Second Embodiment

A second embodiment will be described hereinafter with reference to thedrawings. FIG. 8 shows a plan view of a structure of a bidirectionalswitch according to the second embodiment. In FIG. 8, the samecomponents as those of FIG. 1 are indicated by the same referencecharacters and will not be described.

In the bidirectional switch of the second embodiment, as shown in FIG.8, the first gate electrode pad 43 is formed, covering an entirety ofthe first interconnection 31, and the second gate electrode pad 44 isformed, covering an entirety of the second interconnection 32. The firstgate electrode pad 43 is coupled to substantially the entirety of thefirst interconnection 31, and the second gate electrode pad 44 iscoupled to substantially the entirety of the second interconnection 32.

As a result, the unit cells 11 have substantially an equal interconnectdistance between the first gate electrode 17 and the first gateelectrode pad 43. The unit cells 11 also have substantially an equalinterconnect distance between the second gate electrode 18 and thesecond gate electrode pad 44. Moreover, by causing the distance betweenthe first interconnection 31 and the active region 22A and the distancebetween the second interconnection 32 and the active region 22A to beequal to each other, the interconnect distance between the first gateelectrode 17 and the first gate electrode pad 43 and the interconnectdistance between the second gate electrode 18 and the second gateelectrode pad 44 can be caused to be substantially equal to each other.

Moreover, the proportion of the first interconnection 31 in a wirebetween the first gate electrodes 17 and the first gate electrode pad 43and the proportion of the second interconnection 32 in a wire betweenthe second gate electrodes 18 and the second gate electrode pad 44 aresubstantially negligibly small.

Therefore, the interconnect resistance between the first gate electrodes17 and the first gate electrode pad 43 and the interconnect resistancebetween the second gate electrodes 18 and the second gate electrode pad44 can be reduced to a negligibly small level. For example, when thefirst and second gate electrode pads 43 and 44 are a multilayer filmincluding a Ti film having a thickness of 100 nm and a Au film having athickness of 5000 nm, and have a specific resistance of about 2×10⁻⁶Ωcm, a pad width of 100 μM, and a pad length of 3 mm, the interconnectresistance is about 0.12Ω. As a result, in all unit cells, a differencein signal delay time between the first and second gate electrodes 17 and18 is negligible, and therefore, the loss of the bidirectional switchcan be significantly reduced.

The shape of the first and second gate electrode pads 43 and 44 may bearbitrarily changed if the first gate electrode pad 43 can be coupled tosubstantially the entirety of the first interconnection 31 and thesecond gate electrode pad 44 can be coupled to substantially theentirety of the second interconnection 32. For example, as shown in FIG.9, a portion of each of the first and second gate electrode pads 43 and44 may be formed on the active region 22A. In this case, the areas ofthe first and second gate electrode pads 43 and 44 can be increasedwithout increasing the chip area of the bidirectional switch. Moreover,the first and second gate electrode pads 43 and 44, and the first andsecond ohmic electrode pads 41 and 42 may be convoluted and intertwined,whereby a region for bonding a thick wire to all the electrode pads canbe provided. As a result, a large current can be passed.

Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 10, the first ohmic electrode pad 41 maybe formed on a back surface of the substrate 21. In this case, wiring isnot required for the first ohmic electrode pad 41, and therefore, theassembly process can be simplified.

In each embodiment, an example has been described where the first gateelectrodes 17 and the second gate electrodes 18 are a multilayer film ofNi and Au, and therefore, form a Schottky junction with the barrierlayer 25. Alternatively, a gate injection transistor (GIT) structure maybe employed. In this case, a p-type semiconductor layer made of AlGaN orGaN may be formed between the barrier layer 25, and the first and secondgate electrodes 17 and 18 so that the first and second gate electrodes17 and 18 form an ohmic junction with the p-type semiconductor layer.Such a structure can easily provide a normally-off characteristic and alow on-resistance. Alternatively, the normally-off characteristic andthe low on-resistance may be achieved using a Schottky junction, ametal-insulating film-semiconductor (MIS) structure, or the like.

While, in each embodiment, an example has been described where thesemiconductor layer is formed on a Si substrate, the semiconductor layermay be formed of a substrate made of other materials, such as SiC,sapphire, GaN, and the like.

While, in each embodiment, an example has been described where thebidirectional switch is formed of a nitride semiconductor, typified byGaN, SiC, which is a wide band gap semiconductor, may be employed.Alternatively, arsenide-based semiconductors, typified by GaAs, whichare often used in high-frequency devices may be employed.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

In the bidirectional switch of the present disclosure, a difference ininterconnect resistance between a first gate electrode and a second gateelectrode in each unit cell is small, and therefore, a switching loss isreduced. Therefore, the present disclosure is useful for bidirectionalswitches having a double gate structure which employ a wide band gapsemiconductor, and the like.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE CHARACTERS

-   11 Unit Cell-   15 First Ohmic Electrode-   16 Second Ohmic Electrode-   17 First Gate Electrode-   18 Second Gate Electrode-   20 Center Line-   21 Substrate-   22 Semiconductor Layer-   22 a Active Region-   22 b High-Resistance Region-   23 Buffer Layer-   24 Channel Layer-   25 Barrier Layer-   27 Insulating Film-   31 First Interconnection-   32 Second Interconnection-   33 Connection Portion-   34 Connection Portion-   36 Third Interconnection-   37 Connection Portion-   38 Fourth Interconnection-   39 Connection Portion-   41 First Ohmic Electrode Pad-   42 Second Ohmic Electrode Pad-   43 First Gate Electrode Pad-   44 Second Gate Electrode Pad-   51 Back Surface Electrode-   52 Metal

1. A bidirectional switch comprising: a plurality of unit cellsincluding a semiconductor layer formed on a substrate, and a first ohmicelectrode, a first gate electrode, a second gate electrode, and a secondohmic electrode successively formed on the semiconductor layer andspaced from each other; a first interconnection formed on thesemiconductor layer, electrically connecting the first gate electrodes,and extending in a direction intersecting the first gate electrodes; asecond interconnection formed on a side opposite to the firstinterconnection with the unit cells being interposed between the firstand second interconnections, connecting the second gate electrodes, andextending in a direction intersecting the second gate electrodes; afirst gate electrode pad electrically connected to the firstinterconnection; and a second gate electrode pad electrically connectedto the second interconnection, wherein the entire first interconnectionis overlapped by the first gate electrode pad in plan view, and theentire second interconnection is overlapped by the second gate electrodepad in plan view.
 2. The bidirectional switch of claim 1, wherein ineach of the plurality of unit cells, an interconnect distance betweenthe first gate electrode and the first gate electrode pad is equal to aninterconnect distance between the second gate electrode and the secondgate electrode pad.
 3. The bidirectional switch of claim 1, wherein thefirst and second gate electrode pads are symmetrical about a center lineof the semiconductor substrate extending in a direction in which thefirst and second interconnections extend.
 4. The bidirectional switch ofclaim 2, wherein the first and second gate electrode pads aresymmetrical about a center point of the semiconductor substrate.
 5. Thebidirectional switch of claim 1, wherein the first and second gateelectrode pads are unitary with the first and second interconnections,respectively.
 6. The bidirectional switch of claim 1, furthercomprising: a first ohmic electrode pad electrically connected to thefirst ohmic electrode; and a second ohmic electrode pad electricallyconnected to the second ohmic electrode, wherein the semiconductor layerhas an active region and a high-resistance region surrounding the activeregion, and at least a portion of the first and second ohmic electrodepads is formed on the active region.
 7. The bidirectional switch ofclaim 6, wherein at least a portion of the first and second gateelectrode pads is formed on the active region.
 8. The bidirectionalswitch of claim 1, further comprising: a first ohmic electrode padelectrically connected to the first ohmic electrode; and a second ohmicelectrode pad electrically connected to the second ohmic electrode,wherein the second ohmic electrode pad is formed on the semiconductorlayer, and the first ohmic electrode pad is formed on a surface of thesemiconductor substrate opposite to a surface of the semiconductorsubstrate on which the semiconductor layer is formed.
 9. Thebidirectional switch of claim 1, wherein the semiconductor layerincludes a first nitride semiconductor layer and a second nitridesemiconductor layer having a larger band gap than that of the firstnitride semiconductor layer, the first and second nitride semiconductorlayers being successively formed, and the first nitride semiconductorlayer being closer to the substrate than the second nitridesemiconductor layer is.
 10. The bidirectional switch of claim 1, whereina portion of the first ohmic electrode is overlapped by the first gateelectrode pad in plan view.
 11. The bidirectional switch of claim 10,wherein a portion of the second ohmic electrode is overlapped by thefirst gate electrode pad in plan view.